Big guns play on Sunday as second half of Spanish season gets underway

The second half of the Spanish football season kicks off this coming weekend with the three favorites for the title playing their games on Sunday.

League leaders Atletico Madrid travel to play an improving Las Palmas with the disadvantage of having played their King's Cup tie 24 hours later than their rivals.

Las Palmas have picked up their performances under coach Quique Setien and will be a tough rival for an Atletico who will once again base their challenge on a solid defense and the effectiveness of Antoine Griezmann in attack.

Real Madrid received a moral boost when Zinedine Zidane's debut as coach ended in a 5-0 win at home to Deportivo la Coruna a week ago and they will expect a similar result when Sporting Gijon visit the Santiago Bernabeu.

The visitors have slipped away after a bright return to the Primera Liga and the limits of their squad have become clear as injuries and suspensions begin to bite. Sporting will be cheered on by 2,000 fans on Sunday, but a repeat of the 0-0 draw they kicked the season off with would be a surprise.

Finally Barcelona, who have a game in hand over Atletico and Real Madrid, entertain Athletic Club Bilbao, the only club to deny them a trophy in 2015 when the Basques beat Barca 5-1 in the Spanish Supercup.

Both sides made it into the last eight of the King's Cup on Wednesday, but with Barca able to rest Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquet, Iniesta and Neymar against Espanyol, they will hope to have the edge in the Camp Nou.

Saturday's games kick off with an interesting Andalusian derby as two improving sides, Sevilla and Malaga battle it out. Sevilla's impressive home form has lifted them to sixth in the table, while four wins and a draw for Malaga in their last five matches has taken them from the relegation zone to mid-table.

Celta Vigo look to be struggling following the sale of Augusto Fernandez to Atletico Madrid a fortnight ago and rumors of the return of Nolito to Barcelona won't help matters, but even so they should have enough firepower to see off bottom of the table Levante.

Betis are in freefall following the sacking of coach Pepe Mel and a 4-0 Cup thrashing by local rivals Sevilla and a trip to fourth place Villarreal is probably not the place to recover bruised confidence.

Villarreal were knocked out of the Cup in midweek and are clearly focusing on finishing fourth in the table and it could be a long night for stand in Betis boss Juan Merino.

Saturday ends with Real Sociedad looking to continue their improved home form under Eusebio Sacristan against a Deportivo la Coruna reeling from a 3-0 Cup defeat at home to second division Numancia.

Gary Neville has yet to win a league game in charge of Valencia but will probably not have a better chance than Sunday's match at home to struggling Rayo Vallecano, which is a mid-day kick off.

Finally the round of matches ends on Monday as sixth placed Eibar look to keep their miracle going at home to Granada. Enditem